Retirement village is mooted for city
Land earmarked for new model of housing
Landbetween Causewayhead and Blairlogie has been earmarked as a potential site for a new retirement village.
Stirling Council planners confirmed this week they had been asked for a formal screening opinion on whether a planning application for a retirement community at Powis Mains would need to be supported by an environmental impact assessment.
Early indications suggest a proposed development could involve around 165 retirement houses - a mix of bungalows, terraced units and flats - plus a 60bed care home, a village centre, open space, landscaping and roads.
The 19.3 hectare site sits to the north of the A907 Alloa Road on the corner of the Manor Powis roundabout between the Alloa Road to Causewayhead and the road leading to Blairlogie and the Hillfoots.
While the potential developers are being kept under wraps, the initial enquiries are being made on their behalf by planning consultants Andrew Bennie Planning Ltd.
Mr Bennie told the Observer: “My clients are looking to promote an extension to the settlement in order to develop state-of-the-art accommodation in a new model of housing which we are designing for the ageing population at a number of locations across Scotland, and in which active older people can enjoy a top quality lifestyle whilst preparing for possible health challenges to come, for example through the use of an exciting range of on-site facilities, and by making significant improvements to sustainable transport links into and through the surrounding area.
“This specific location has been chosen as it provides great connectivity opportunities and there is the ability to integrate the development into the surrounding area. It neighbours Stirling University’s world leading Dementia Services Development Centre (one of the potential challenges facing our ageing population and indeed many younger people too) and it is being designed to complement the proposed on-site, live-in facility which is being promoted for the university campus, with its embedded active-research approach.
“A host of opinion pieces, research papers and other studies published nationally and internationally these past few weeks demonstrate the desperate need for a different approach to housing for our ageing population all across Scotland and we believe that Stirling Council, with its established track record in innovative housing and care policies, eg housing in the countryside, accommodation for the visitor economy, the health and care village and the regeneration of Raploch to name just a few examples, offers an excellent context for developing our concept.
“We will be delighted to publish, and indeed discuss, our proposals in more detail with the community and other interested parties in due course, but we still have a lot of work to do to get us to that point.”
In a response to the screening opinion request – which is seen as one the precursors to submission of a major planning application – council planners recommended that an EIA would not be needed as the proposed retirement community would not result in a significant effect on the environment.
They added, however: “Any forthcoming application should be supported by a significant amount of information which considers the environmental impact of the proposed development including a comprehensive package of habitat and ecological surveys and any necessary mitigation, archaeological report, site investigation report, transport assessment, air quality assessment, landscape and visual impact assessment.”
A new model of housing which we are designing for the ageing population